13 May 2010 20:10
CET Last updated: 14 May 2010 05:27 CET
The EPA today unveiled its plan to eventually regulate 70 per cent of all US GHG output.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it will use a “phase-in” approach to bring power plants and oil refineries under the new regulations, which will require large emitters to obtain new GHG permits in order to operate their facilities.
The permit requirements will begin in January 2011, when facilities that already obtain Clean Air Act (CAA) permits for other pollutants such as lead, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, will be required to acquire the GHG permits.
The permits will be needed to demonstrate that a facility is using the best technology available to limit its GHG emissions.
In July 2011, the regulations will expand to cover all new facilities with GHG emissions of at least 100,000 tonnes per year and modifications at existing facilities that would increase GHG emissions by at least 75,000 tonnes per year.
The permits must demonstrate the use of best available control technologies (Bact) to minimise GHG emission increases when facilities are constructed or significantly modified, the EPA said.
Bact will be determined on a "case-by-case basis", a spokeswoman for the EPA said.
Under the new emissions thresholds for GHGs that begin in July 2011, EPA estimates approximately 900 additional permitting actions covering new sources and modifications to existing sources would be subject to review each year.
In addition, 550 sources will need to obtain operating permits for the first time because of their GHG emissions, the EPA said.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said emissions from small farms, restaurants and all but the "very largest commercial facilities will not be covered by the programme at this time".
In 2011, the EPA will undertake another rulemaking process to determine what action should be taken regarding GHG emissions from smaller sources, but Jackson said permits will never be required of facilities that emit less than 50,000 tonnes a year.
She added that no requirement for smaller sources will take effect until at least 30 April, 2016.
Politics
The EPA says it has no choice but to move forward with regulations of GHGs after a 2007 Supreme Court decision, which found that GHGs represent a danger to the public health and welfare, even though doing so is not popular with many members of the business community and many in Congress.
The climate legislation introduced yesterday by Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman would bar the EPA from implementing their regulations in full.
Kerry said his bill represents the last good chance to avoid EPA regulations, and encouraged senators to vote for it.
"The Obama administration has again reminded Washington that if Congress won’t legislate, the EPA will regulate," he said.
“Those who have spent years stalling need to understand: killing a Senate bill is no longer success."
epublican Senator Lisa Murkowski has introduced a disapproval resolution that would halt the EPA from moving forward with its plan.
She is expected to call for a Senate vote on her resolution in the coming weeks.
By Rory Carroll – rc@pointcarbon.com
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário